"You Can't Just Force Fat Off Your Body!"

Do you ever wish you could just force a fitness issue and be there NOW?

Even though you KNOW our bodies just don't work that way?

The question still comes up – how to move fitness or fat loss forward as quickly as we can.  I get it!

Sometimes we just need a refresher course.

And often the best way to clarify information is in response to questions.

The "Contact Me" form on my blog is serving up nicely just for this purpose!

I also have the opportunity to respond to questions on a variety of forums and blogs; here is a recent exchange about weight loss that I think you might find interesting.

Q. The way I understand it, starvation mode is a myth according to Brad Pilon and what really happens is that the fat is replaced by water which makes us look and weigh basically the same even though we could still be losing fat.

Am I right? If that is the case, do I have to worry about eating too little kcal? I have been eating really clean this week and I think I have eaten about 1000 kcal a day give or take.

I haven't weighed, measured or tracked anything, but I did before, and I'm pretty sure I'm eating too little, but does that really matter?

Can I keep eating the same way and then for instance fast and loose the excess water weight?

It takes so much time to track kcals, I don't have time for that, but if it's ok to eat "too few" I don't have to either!

Thanks!
Eva

A.  Hi Eva,

Actually, eating too few calories may well get in the way of your body recomposition goals.

It's not so much what we do in a day or two, but over the course of the week or weeks. We can't just force fat off the body – in its wisdom it prefers a reasonable shift of fat stores.  We need to keep that in mind when it comes to weight loss.

This means it is prudent not to reduce your overall (week average) calorie consumption below about 20% of your maintenance levels.

There are other problems with undereating day after day – it is darn near impossible not to start getting some serious "stored hunger" as we place ourselves in a deep chronic caloric deficit.

Remember also that though the mini-fast regime does not adversely affect metabolic rate, day-after-day fasting, say 3 days or longer, does. And eating VLCD (very low calorie diet) day after day may create a similar effect.

I know from personal experience, white-knuckle low-calorie eating ALWAYS backfired into overeating periods. I gave that up years ago and since then have maintained my huge weight loss and haven't binged ever since.

More about that here: 50 lb weight loss photos.

I'd also like to clarify regarding water weight, starvation mode, and Brad's work. The audio file of Eat Stop Eat to which you refer DOES report in about "starvation edema".  This report detailed the head-scratching phenomenon that many dieters experience where they are doing "everything right" but still see no visible or weight loss, quantifiable results.

Apparently the problem was the "hanging onto water weight" to which you refer.  Yet keep in mind this IS under starvation, or VLCD, conditions, something which we should seek NOT to emulate if we are desirous of consistent reduction of our fat loss stores without threat to the metabolic rate.

Hope this helps!

Lani

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AND I hope this serves as a reminder for any who might get too ambitious on the fitness quest with the start of a new year.  Remember, you can't just force fat off your body! 

Do you have a question you'd like addressed?

Find the "Contact" form linked in the navigation bar beneath the header and send it to me.

You'd be surprised how YOUR question, once expressed, may help other women in ways you'd never expect!

And as always, share your thoughts about this post in "comments"!

© Lani Muelrath